Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Situation in Kosovo "better, but not good enough" - UN special envoy

Text of report in English by Belgrade-based Radio B92 text website on 7 September

Brussels, 7 September: The security situation in Kosovo is better than it was, "but not good enough", the UN secretary-general's special envoy for implementation of Standards in the province [Kai Eide] said today.

"I understand that people do not feel safe," said Kai Eide.

After meeting with Kosovo Serb officials yesterday, Eide said that the situation in Kosovo was moving "in the right direction" and that he was trying to view the situation from all perspectives.

"We spoke about decentralization, the return effort and privatization in Kosovo, and we understand the demands of the Serbian officials," Eide said, adding that he asked Serb representatives to "show understanding for what we plan to include in the final report".

The Norwegian diplomat met with a broad range of Serb political representatives in the province during his latest visit.

He is in Belgrade today at the start of a two-day visit to meet with senior Serbia-Montenegro officials, in an effort to emphasize the importance of taking a constructive approach to the decentralization of government in Kosovo.

Eide will meet UN officials in New York on 20 September to discuss the Kosovo situation.

15 comments:

Anonymous
said...

"Not good enough" People live behind barbed wire in segregated compounds requiring escorts to run errands in Europe in the 21st century. "Not Enough" really means that Albanians are not capable of creating a multi-ethnic society.

What kind of multi ethnic society can you create when the Serbian minority does not wish to integrate. They do not speak Albanian, the majority language, refuse to use the official currency, documentation, licence plates, postal code etc. They refuse to integrate on every level. The same way Serbs are afraid to move about behind those "barbed wires", Albanians are harrased and threatened when in those Serb enclaves. When an Albanian wedding proccesion drove through Gracanica a few months back they were stopped by Serb civilians, the Albanian flag was torn appart and the driver of the front car of the proccesion was beaten up. Is that the safety you are advocating?The fact of the matter is that the blame lies with both the Serbs and the Albanians. The Serbs because they do not wish to integrate and the Albanians because they do not understand that the Kosovar Serbs are no less Kosovars than they themselves are. Kosovar Serbs and Albanians should be able to go to any corner of Kosovo anytime they wish to do so and no one has the right to deny this to them, not Serbs, not Albanians, not anybody.

the responsibility for a civil society rests with the majority. Serbs are being picked off with automatic weapons and you whine about a wedding processions flag that is ripped? are you nuts? yes, you are. I believe most of you are and so does the rest of the international community.....maybe that's why you are still occupied after 6 long years.

I guess the Albanian poster above is correct. Than the Albanian's in Macedonia should submit and give up the Albanian language in Macedonia since they are the minority. Besides Serbs are not a minority in Serbia in which kosovo is a province.

I wrote that because I do not believe that all Serbs should be considered guilty, but clearly the standard does not seem to be consistent enough by the Serb posters above.

It is amazing how Serbs readily jump on acusing Albanians for criminal activity (activity which transcends nationality and race, its simply crime), and use that as a "reason" for Albanians not to rule themselves (this is same philosophy of "white man's burden"), but are not ready to accept the crimes that were done in their name. On top of that, they bring out history (with a high probability of fabrication) and use that to justify why Albanians are "scum" and why we should still endure Serb terror.

The fact is, we've had it with Serbs, it's finished. The best thing they can do is turn to their own problems (which is not Kosova) and solve them. Europe is about to surround them and there is a lot of work to be done.

If they do not do it, if they continue with this racial supremacist philosophy, they will certainly confirm the statement I made in the previous post, that they are all responsible for the genocide that took part.

Serbs get picked off by automatic weapons in Serbia too. So do Albanians. Albanians get picked off by automatic weapons in Kosovo and Albania. What's your point?In the last year there have been more Serbs per capita killed by weapons in Serbia proper than in Kosovo. Actually the only Serbs killed by bullets in Kosovo were the two unfortunate young men that just lost their lives in the recent assassination near Strpce.The fact of the matter is that Serbs have to take responsibility for their affairs and forget about the fascist agenda of Belgrade, because right now they are the biggest victims of that agenda.Without integration they can forget about stability. As far as being occupied for the last 6 years, America was occupied by the Brits for a few hundred years, France was under them for around a hundred, Poland was under German occupation for six. Did that make these people crazy? No! It is called colonialism. But that's OK. I do not expect you to understand when you are consumed in you "sound bite" mentality. You hear what you want to hear, see what you want to see. That is not life.

And what extensive research have you done to support this "theory" of yours?

Educated observers... what a joke!

There are real educated observers in Kosovo right now and all of them, I repeat, all of them have come to the conclusion that the anti Serb sentiment in Kosovo stems from the anxiety over the future status of this region. There is no desire to have an ethnically pure Kosovo because besides Serbs we also have Turks, Croats, Bosniacs etc, and none of those Kosovar residents have been harassed. Further more, the only ethnic element of Kosovo opposing the independence of Kosovo are the Kosovar Serbs. When a small minority of 6 to 7 percent of Serbs holds back the other 93 percent of Kosovars, most of whom are Albanian, and denies them the right to self determination what else do you expect?

And not that there is justification for some actions that were witnessed in Kosovo in the past six years against the Serbs, but we faired far worse under them. Moreover, it was official state policy to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of Albanians when they were in power. The violence against them nowadays is nothing more than independent extremist factions and is in no way a policy of the Government of Kosovo, or the sentiment of the majority of Albanian Kosovars.

"And not that there is justification for some actions that were witnessed in Kosovo in the past six years against the Serbs, but we faired far worse under them."

You just made a moral equivalency and tried to justify it. Sad. That is why the international community will not grant you anything but occupation. You simply don't get it. As for your statements of the official polity of the Yugoslav government...were it actually true, there would be no albanians in Kosovo.

If the Serbs are such a bad people, why then is the West so interested in bring them into the European Union and so reluctant to let in the Albanians. If the Serbs surrender General Mladic, they start asscention talks for enterance into the EU the next day, where as Albania is given one accuse after another.

"There is no desire to have an ethnically pure Kosovo because besides Serbs we also have Turks, Croats, Bosniacs etc, and none of those Kosovar residents have been harassed"

The Turks live and work freely in the "south" of Kosovo, otherwise the the Bosniacs, Roma, etc have to live and work in the "north". Thats a fact...just ask or go see the Gipsy's that were burned out of there "camps" in April 2004 near Vucitrn (Vushtri). They are still living in Mitrovica (north).

The fact is that not only does Kosovo Albanians want independence from Serbia, they want it a pure Albanian State and will use a chaotic situation...a little bit at a time...to get what they want.

"When a small minority of 6 to 7 percent of Serbs holds back the other 93 percent of Kosovars, most of whom are Albanian, and denies them the right to self determination what else do you expect?"

This is the very political immaturity/ mindset that has resulted in the 'limbo' you find yourselves in. When so many nations band together to win your fight for you, they expect you to end the hostilities, build an inclusive, tolerant, safe society. Instead, your nation wants to cleanse your society of "others" and blames them. The blame rests with you and yours. AFter 6 years, and 15,000 troops on the ground, there shouldn't be barbed wire around churches and people being escorted to buy groceries, go to church or to school. You simply don't get it. That is why you will be occupied for many years to come.

You wanted war and now you complain? I have no sympathy for albanians. Serbs didn't foment war. The terrorist KLA did. Serbs were quelling a terrorist uprising by a majority muslim narco/terrorist group.